The witching anthology series, Under the Moon, continues with this second instalment following a new family of witches in an all new story by David Neth.
This time, Neth traces generations of one witching family condemned by an evil sorceress who obsessively lets the family line continue so she can kill each generation.
The tale begins with young witch Pamela witnessing her mother’s death at the hands of the evil Toxanna, who wants revenge after Pamela’s mother broke a slave spell that allowed Toxanna to control others. Not satisfied after losing so much, Toxanna vows to exact her revenge on the generations to come. With each death, Toxanna becomes more powerful and by the time we meet Pamela’s granddaughter Holly, she seems unstoppable.
Neth regularly jumps through time, often by years, resulting in the listener witnessing only random periods of each character’s life. With no flow, it leaves us detached from the story, and this is hampered further by the central characters being killed off regularly, leaving us with no one to bond with. Neth creates a relay race, with the baton being handed to new characters time and time again. It works in a sporting race but not in a story. Toxanna remains the only ongoing character, but she’s pantomime clichéd and is never the focus, playing a bit part in the broader scheme of things.
Also working against any bond with the characters is their own lack of emotional depth. Neth has written sub-par characters that fail to react with any real emotional to even the most heartbreaking events. Point in fact – and a spoiler alert – is when Danielle’s unborn child is stolen from her womb. There’s no grief, no real shock and not even a passing moment of motherly distress.
Compounding Neth’s disappointing tale is the unbelievable premise of Toxanna dedicating her extended life to destroying each generation of the same family. As a powerful witch, one can’t help wondering why she didn’t just curse them. Other plot holes abound, leaving The Harvest Moon well below Neth’s storytelling capabilities.
Nathan Weiland returns to narrates this second volume with mixed results. Unlike his reading of book 1, The Full Moon, Weiland plays Toxanna as the campy stereotype she is. While it may be the author’s intent, it is achingly awful to listen to. His other characterisations are all believable, and his narration is otherwise great, making his terrible interpretation of Toxanna all the more painful to listen to.
The audiobook of The Harvest Moon runs approximately 7 hours and 46 minutes and is available now through audible.com.au. Be warned however, that after the relatively enjoyable first story in David Neth’s anthology series, The Harvest Moon, is a massive let down.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 3
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